I am amazed at the growth of the "tea party" movement. Now it has its own air force. One of its members flew the first mission in Austin, Texas. I wonder when its infantry will start shooting those who disagree with its ideology. D.A. Willard James City County

RICHMOND - House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, recently spoke with the Daily Press about Medicaid expansion and Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Here, edited for space, is what he had to say: Q: On Medicaid, within your caucus, how much of the resistance to expansion is ideological versus logistical - wanting reforms versus having a problem with the idea of using the federal money to expand the program? A: I don't know of anybody in my caucus that is opposed - and there could well be - opposed to expanding Medicaid from an anti-big-government type of situation.

I agree with David Walsh ("Unwinnable war," Feb. 1) that war is a terrible thing and is to be avoided if at all possible. I soundly disagree with him when he says we should ask the terrorists (he refers to them as an ideology, or people's beliefs) "what they need to make them happy." He refers to Adolf Hitler. What happened when the British tried to talk with him? What would have happened if the allies had not opposed his "ideology"? Perhaps Walsh would rather that we stand by while these people state that their "ideology" is to destroy us and then they inflict death and destruction on innocent people.

The candidates for lieutenant governor wasted no time putting the huge gap between their ideologies on display Tuesday night, as the two met for the first time in a debate at George Mason University in Arlington. Republican E.W. Jackson and Democrat Ralph Northam offered widely different opinions on essentially every issue - from education to abortion to gun rights. Throughout the debate, Northam emphasized his experience in the state Senate and bipartisan victories there, including passage of the state's ban on smoking in restaurants and the transportation package.

A natural reflex Arguments over profiling have become absurd. It is ultimately about self-preservation, whether physical or social. Somehow we argue that we should throw natural fear out the window and journey comfortably into the night. If you want to experience the stress of profiling, enter the remote areas of West Virginia, close to where my mother was born. Your race or religion carries no weight. The people are kind-hearted but suspicious of any stranger. Who could blame them?

I like to think of myself as a liberal, but I have found compelling arguments from the right. Why should those on the right be compelled to pay taxes in the health-care bill to fund abortion? How can it be fair to ask people to willingly allow something that is absolutely against their religious beliefs? It isn't. And I support this wholeheartedly. I am a Unitarian Universalist, and most of us are against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am completely against both "wars." When we say we are at war against terrorism, what we are really saying is that we are against an ideology.

"At some point, you have to use the word 'crazy.' " It will not surprise you to hear that the speaker is referring to extremists within the tea party movement. What might surprise you is that the speaker is Erick Erickson, editor-in-chief of RedState, a prominent conservative blog. Erickson was recently quoted on Politico in a report about how he and other conservatives are attempting to distance their ideology and the Republican Party from the paranoid theorizing and loud, incoherent screaming that have recently passed for discourse on the political right.

After the most ideological election in decades, I hope to hear President Bush say clearly in the upcoming inaugural address that the war on terrorism is not a clash of civilizations. I will always appreciate our president's post-Sept. 11, 2001, sentiments. Americans of Arabic descent were feeling every emotion other Americans were feeling, but also feared retaliation. Then, the most powerful man on Earth politely rebuked a prominent national leader of his own political base for being divisive.

How will history remember Mikhail Gorbachev? The answer to that question depends to some extent on the competency of Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the other leaders of former Soviet republics who must now lead their new nations along a perilous route. They must feed their people, stabilize their economies and establish new relationships with each other and with the rest of the world. If they fail miserably, if warfare breaks out between the republics and ethnic groups within them, if their economies disintegrate even further, if nuclear weapons of the former Soviet Union end up in irresponsible hands, Gorbachev will be held responsible.

The extremists You printed a letter ("Unwinnable war," Feb. 1) from a gentleman who professed to be of Unitarian faith - bemoaning the fact that we were still at war against persons of other faiths and beliefs, noting that we'd, as a nation, never asked what we could do to help them. We have, in fact, and their answer has been abundantly clear. Suppose a faction of the Unitarians - not all of them - began blowing things and people up and demanded that we all profess the Unitarian belief system under threat of painful death.

A natural reflex Arguments over profiling have become absurd. It is ultimately about self-preservation, whether physical or social. Somehow we argue that we should throw natural fear out the window and journey comfortably into the night. If you want to experience the stress of profiling, enter the remote areas of West Virginia, close to where my mother was born. Your race or religion carries no weight. The people are kind-hearted but suspicious of any stranger. Who could blame them?

NEWPORT NEWS — At a campaign stop in Newport News on Monday, state Sen. Mark Herring, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general, said he is wants to take politics and ideology out of the office. Herring, who hails from Loudoun County, never mentioned his primary opponent, former federal prosecutor Justin Fairfax, at the gathering of roughly 40 supporters at Steve's Steak House. Instead he focused his attacks on Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the two GOP candidates vying to replace him – Sen. Mark Obenshain of Harrisonburg and Del. Rob Bell of Albemarle.

"At some point, you have to use the word 'crazy.' " It will not surprise you to hear that the speaker is referring to extremists within the tea party movement. What might surprise you is that the speaker is Erick Erickson, editor-in-chief of RedState, a prominent conservative blog. Erickson was recently quoted on Politico in a report about how he and other conservatives are attempting to distance their ideology and the Republican Party from the paranoid theorizing and loud, incoherent screaming that have recently passed for discourse on the political right.

The Bible got a good thumping in Richmond recently when a state delegate and his pastor posse announced a petition to strip Planned Parenthood of state funding, invoking God and fact-free propaganda worthy of Goebbels. They called the group "unethical, immoral and racist." Claimed it promotes reckless sex, resulting in more venereal diseases. That it sets up shop in minority communities so it can best engage in "racial genocide." Planned Parenthood? Bah! Better call it "Klan Parenthood," they said, or "Planned Barrenhood."

I am amazed at the growth of the "tea party" movement. Now it has its own air force. One of its members flew the first mission in Austin, Texas. I wonder when its infantry will start shooting those who disagree with its ideology. D.A. Willard James City County

I agree with David Walsh ("Unwinnable war," Feb. 1) that war is a terrible thing and is to be avoided if at all possible. I soundly disagree with him when he says we should ask the terrorists (he refers to them as an ideology, or people's beliefs) "what they need to make them happy." He refers to Adolf Hitler. What happened when the British tried to talk with him? What would have happened if the allies had not opposed his "ideology"? Perhaps Walsh would rather that we stand by while these people state that their "ideology" is to destroy us and then they inflict death and destruction on innocent people.

No more slightly sloshed pols in smoke-filled back rooms deciding who gets their party's nomination. No more efficient and/or ruthless machines; not Tammany Hall, Cook County or even the gentlemanly Byrd organization. Now, American wanna-be politicians can - and do - "self-nominate" according to veteran journalist Alan Ehrenhalt, formerly with the Congressional Quarterly and current editor of Governing magazine. Is ideology then even stronger? Not really. This dispassionately thoughtful and provocative book points out that ideologies, such as Ronald Reagan, Jesse Jackson and Phil Gramm, are actually exceptions.

We're in the middle of a search for a new editorial page editor. In such a search, inevitably arises the question of whether political ideology should play a role in the selection. It's the "litmus test" issue -- first, whether such a test can be effectively devised, and second, whether it ought to be applied. For those who are a very long way from chemistry classes, litmus paper is used to test whether a solution is acid or alkaline. Dip a strip, and it turns blue for base, red for acid.

The extremists You printed a letter ("Unwinnable war," Feb. 1) from a gentleman who professed to be of Unitarian faith - bemoaning the fact that we were still at war against persons of other faiths and beliefs, noting that we'd, as a nation, never asked what we could do to help them. We have, in fact, and their answer has been abundantly clear. Suppose a faction of the Unitarians - not all of them - began blowing things and people up and demanded that we all profess the Unitarian belief system under threat of painful death.

I like to think of myself as a liberal, but I have found compelling arguments from the right. Why should those on the right be compelled to pay taxes in the health-care bill to fund abortion? How can it be fair to ask people to willingly allow something that is absolutely against their religious beliefs? It isn't. And I support this wholeheartedly. I am a Unitarian Universalist, and most of us are against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am completely against both "wars." When we say we are at war against terrorism, what we are really saying is that we are against an ideology.